A KID-FRIENDLY FILM ABOUT FOOD:

“What’s On Your Plate?” & DISCUSSION ABOUT SCHOOL LUNCH

This Sunday, August 8 from 2:00-4:00 pm at Audubon Greenwich

School will start soon and what will be on your child’s plate? Come ponder the issue while viewing this informative, kid-inspired movie about healthier, fresher, and more local foods for schools and kids. Following the film, Audubon staff and guest speakers will discuss the status of school lunches in our region and other food-related topics relevant to children.

What’s On Your Plate? - a film by Catherine Gund with Sadie Hope-Gund and Safiyah Riddle - is a witty and provocative documentary about kids and food politics. Over the course of one year, the film follows two eleven-year-old city kids as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah talk to food activists, farmers, and storekeepers, as they address questions regarding the origin of the food they eat, how it’s cultivated, and how many miles it travels from farm to fork. Sadie and Safiyah visit supermarkets, fast food chains, and school lunchrooms. But they also check out innovative sustainable food system practices by going to farms, greenmarkets, and community supported agriculture (CSA) programs. They discover that these options have a number of positive effects: they are good for the environment, help struggling farmers survive, and provide affordable, locally grown food to communities, especially lower-income urban families. The film culminates with a delicious local meal cooked by the girls and friends they have made along the way. Sadie and Safiyah formulate sophisticated and compassionate opinions about urban sustainability, and by doing so inspire hope and active engagement in others. Learn more about this film at: www.whatsonyourplateproject.org

Suitable for all ages. Kids are free. Suggested donation for adults: $10. Call Jeff at 203-869-5272 x239 to sign up. Space is limited so be sure to RSVP and save a seat.

Win two nights in Maine, a GE Energy Star appliance (up to $500.00 in value, shipping incl.)

a bike,  a family pass to a Bpt.Blue Fish home game & many more prizes!!!.

FREE Admission! Town of Ffld. canvas shopping bag.

Plenty of Free Parking
SAT, MAY 8, 2010 from 10:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.
@ Fairfield Warde High School, 755 Melville Ave., Fairfield

Learn about…state of the art, clean and renewable alternative energy choices, conservation, our environment, organic and sustainable methods of gardening, cleaning, and safe organic products and services, etc.

Recycle… Old sneakers, batteries, eyeglasses, hearing aids, cell phones, wire hangers, and even clean pairs of socks and unmatched socks.

Enjoy… Free samples, face painting, arts & crafts, kid’s wood construction projects with Home Depot w planting wStudent Exhibits.

See… “Trashy Fashions“ A combined elementary & high school student fashion show using recycled materials. A “Green” Auto show

Hear… Experts discuss current & future trends in automotive transportation.  What’s up with healthy eating, gardening, etc.?

Taste…Fantastic food by Catch a Healthy Habit  and Chef Jeff’s portable wood-fired brick oven. Indulge yourself!  Try kettled corn!

Sing along with… the Mill River Band w Lisa Furman & Friends w Roger Ludlowe Middle School (RLMS) Chamber Choir w Fairfield House Band

Meet … 80+ exhibitors

Schedule

* Please see posted information at the event for most up to date information*

10:15 OPENING CEREMONY by Fairfield’s First Selectman Ken Flatto in the Courtyard.

LECTURE SCHEDULE

Lecture Room:

10:30   An Organic Teaching Farm in Fairfield ?

Pam Jones/Jody Eisemann

11:30   Local Food Panel Discussion

Moderated by Analiese Paik, Founder Fairfield Green Food Guide

Guest Panelists:

• Schools gardens - Annelise McCay & Amie Hall,
• Organic gardening - Nick Mancini
• Community Garden - Eric Frisk
• School Food - Michelle McCabe
• CSAs & Food Coops - Sarah Bollman
• Town Farm - Jody Eisemann and Pam Jones

2:00     Bees into Battle Win Baum

3:00     Organic Gardening Simplified Nick Mancini

Court Yard (Lecture Room if weather is inclement):

1:00       Future of Transportation - a panel discussion.

Moderator -  Jim Motavalli

Sure to be an exciting and informative panel discussion on our current transportation behaviors and the prescription for the future for attaining sustainability in the way we should choose to move ourselves, and the alternatives that will available to us.  Be sure to attend this engaging discussion by our panel of transportation experts.

Cooking Room :

Ongoing demos begin at 10 am. Stop in any time! Follow the signs to the cooking area

Coordinator and Speaker - Amie Hall

11:00    Sustainable Eating

11:30    The Green Lunch Box

1:30    Square Foot Gardening in the Curriculum

2:30    Square Foot Gardening - The Basics

10:00 am- 4:00 pm - Earth Food Tour, Self Guided, Ongoing.  Visit 5 interactive family friendly stations that will expand your food knowledge and build comfort in your kitchen. Topics include Glorious Greens, Great Grains, The Mighty Bean, Flour Power and The Green Lunch Box.

ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE

Time               Court Yard

10:45                   Mike Dougherty & the All Star Energy Band

11:15                     Save our Trees-Reading by Persephone  Ocasio

Trashy Fashions

11:45                     Drumming Circle

12:30                     Trashy Fashions

2:00                       Drumming Circle

2:45                       Mike Dougherty & the All Star Energy Band

Main Entrance (Outside)

Solar Powered Music

11:15 -2:00         Lisa Furman Band

2:00                       FFld House Band

2:45 - 3:45           Lisa Furman Band

Lecture Series Speakers:

Pam Jones and Jody Eisemann, former Westporters, re-met as Fairfield residents and found they had numerous interests in common, including the preservation and restoration of their local environment. Both of them believe that the earth is facing an unparalleled environmental crisis of resources, out of control pollution and most importantly the safety and security of our food sources. Pam and Jody believe that learning to grow your own food is a simple solution to lowering the area’s carbon footprint, accessing really healthy food and is real security for people everywhere. They have spent the past year pursuing the idea of creating a town owned organic teaching farm as a way to help create a sustainable future for our town and our children.

Analiese Paik is a local/sustainable food advocate and founder of the Fairfield Green Food Guide, an online consumer resource for finding local and sustainably grown food and connecting with the green food community. Launched in January 2009, fairfieldgreenfoodguide.com features a blog, database of green food resources, event calendar and e-newsletter that empower consumers to eat fresh, local and sustainable food in Fairfield County. Analiese organizes documentary food film events to benefit not-for-profits, and is a regular monthly guest on News Channel 8’s Good Morning Connecticut show.

Win Baum, Fairfield Backyard Beekeeper, is back this year and will talk about the perils honeybees and fellow pollinators, like bats and butterflies, are facing from chemical pesticides and other man-made foes. Win and his wife, Stefanie, have been keeping bees in their backyard Fairfield apiary since 1992.  Win’s experience with honeybees and other pollinators is sure to be informative and useful for gardeners of all types.

Nick Mancini will show you how to maintain a trouble free garden through good sanitation, crop selection, proper fertilization and Organic pest management. Nick is a Certified Master Gardener from the Cooperative Extension System of the University of Connecticut, specializing in organic vegetables, fruits and brambles, and past head Master Gardener of Vegetables and Tree Fruit at Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford, Connecticut. He teaches organic gardening at Norwalk Community College’s Extended Studies program and the Kathryn Croaning Child Development Laboratory School where they have developed an organic garden. Nick also teaches Organic Gardening at the Westport Continuing Education, Fairfield Continuing Education, Northeast Organic Farmers Association and lectures in garden clubs, horticultural societies and libraries throughout Connecticut and neighboring states.

Amie Hall - Amie Guyette Hall, is a certified health coach, Square Foot Gardening teacher and Founder of Fairfield’s Middle School Gardens.  Amie has helped our foods teachers develop a whole foods based curriculum. She connects children and families to their food, their community and the land through educational workshops and wellness programs in our schools and at a local farm.

For more information visit: fairfieldearthday.org or call (203) 256-3010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fairfield, CT - On Thursday, April 29, 2010, at 3:35 pm, North Stratfield School (NSS) will hold a Ground Breaking Ceremony for its raised garden bed plots.  Members of the school’s Brownie and Girl Scout troops will work together to measure and dig out the grass for the two plots.  Inspired by the success of Roger Sherman and Mill Hill Elementary Schools, the NSS PTA leadership, with the support of Principal Deborah Jackson, prioritized the project of creating a school vegetable garden of its own.  NSS parents and former educators, Anika Knox and Aimee O’Brien, are the co-chairs of the Garden Committee.

The goal for the garden is to inspire students, teachers, and the North Stratfield community with a hands-on connection to the food cycle, the natural environment, and the physical benefits of gardening.  The Groundbreaking Ceremony will be the first of many activities related to the garden that will bring the school community together to achieve this goal.  Seed planting by all first graders will take place Friday morning.  On the following day, Saturday, May 1^st from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, members of NSS Boy Scout Troop 95 will be constructing the raised garden bed frames.

Knox and O’Brien received an A.C.T. Grant of $400 from the town of Fairfield in the fall.  A.C.T. stands for Adults and Children Together.  Fairfield Green Food Guide founder and NSS parent, Analiese Paik, arranged for an additional contribution from Whole Foods Market (WFM) in Westport equaling $500 worth of in-kind donations of seeds, seedlings and healthy snacks and refreshments for the volunteers involved in the establishment of the NSS school vegetable garden.  Katie Cole from WFM will be in attendance.

“Even before Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution show came about, I was determined that my children were going to know what foods came from which plants,” stated O’Brien, a former NSS 5^th grade teacher and mother of three.  “I am proud to be a part of this exciting school community effort.”  Knox, the experienced gardener of the two, received her graduate degree in developmental psychology and worked with pre-school children in Head Start programs, finding links between gardening and positive behavior.  She added, “The possibilities for learning from the garden are endless.  We are happy to provide the garden as a resource for teachers in whatever way they may envision.”

Currently, three elementary schools and two of the middle schools have established gardens.  North Stratfield School is among a number of schools in the district that have begun plans this school year to establish vegetable gardens.

#  #  #

For more information, contact:

Aimee O’Brien, (203) 610-5090, dancinaimeeg@yahoo.com

If you are a resident of the town of Fairfield, please take a quick moment to sign this petition questing a review of the district’s school lunch program. If you’ve participated in change.org petitions before, this goes super quick. Just login and your information auto populates in the fields. We need your votes to send a strong message to our Board of Education and school administration that it’s time for Fairfield to take the quality of our school food seriously. What better way to start than assessing the current food service program in light of the latest nutrition research and recommendations for children?

Sign the petition

This petition is a declaration of support from the citizens of Fairfield to ask the Board of Education and the School Administration to explore healthier, unprocessed food options to serve for lunch.  We are asking for an independent review of our current system with the long-term goal of phasing out processed, heavily refined foods and integrating as much in the way of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole muscle meats, and whole grains as possible. While the support of people around the world is very much appreciated, we need signatures from Fairfield CT residents only.  Many thanks!!

Petition Text:

Petition to Review the School Lunch Program in Fairfield, CT

Greetings,

We the undersigned believe it is time to reevaluate the Fairfield School lunch program.

We believe that students should be fed a lunch free of processed foods and made with whole food ingredients, featuring fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains.

We believe that improving the school lunch directly and positively impacts students’ ability to learn.

We believe that our Health and Family and Consumer Science curriculum should be reflected in a school lunch program that features the healthful, nutritious food choices taught to our students.

We believe the epidemic of obesity in our children can be addressed by serving a healthy lunch.

We ask the Board of Education to appoint a special task force, consisting of members of the community and experts in the field, as well as members of the Board of Education and the Administration. The charge of this body would be to present options with financials that would allow Fairfield to embrace a better way of feeding our children.

Sign the petition

By Eileen Weber

The Food for Thought Expo took place at Fairfield Warde High School this Saturday. A good buzz of people attended the fair to hear lectures and experience what local vendors had to share. From locally made breads and honey to fresh milk and organic gourmet take-out, this showcase had it all.

As part of a series of lectures included in the event, Analiese Paik, this site’s founder, spoke for close to an hour about getting the message out about local, organically grown food. “It’s there for the taking. It’s out there,” she said.

Paik went on to describe the opportunities consumers have at their fingertips. From CSAs to farmers’ markets to retail chains selling whole foods, there is something for everyone. The biggest joy for her, she said, is connecting the farmer to the consumer. It’s making that connection that is key to fresh food’s survival in our society.

“We need to check the box on local food. Check the box on the local economy. Check the box on farmland preservation,” she said. Paik’s point was that local, organic food should be a way of life and not something we do once in a while. With obesity and juvenile diabetes rampant in this country, the very thing that makes a difference with those two epidemics is the kind of food we put in our mouths.

In a recent press release about the event, Michelle McCabe, Chairperson for Fuel for Learning Partnership (FFLP), the expo’s organizer and sponsor, said the event was meant to remind us of what foods to avoid. “It seems almost daily that we hear or read stories about the foods we eat, many of them with bad news,” she said. “…the main goal is to help us better feed our families. With the help of cooking instructors, educators, and local businesses, visitors to the Food for Thought Expo will be introduced to the vast range of resources available to help us all attain that goal of healthful eating.”

The FFLP sponsored the event as part of an on-going effort to help educate the general public about the best ways to approach nutrition, and how we can overcome the health challenges Paik mentioned in her lecture. “We’re all on a journey toward changing the way we eat,” said McCabe. “That comes with a learning curve, and our focus is to help people take ownership of their health, and the health of their children.”

Paik sees consumer interest in natural foods growing exponentially. She sees her role as providing a way for people to get to the food they should be eating. It’s also a way to keep our precious farmland preserved. “There are a thousand points of light out there and we’re connecting them,” she said. “There is hope.”

But it’s not just the farms. It’s everything that relies on the farm that provides fresh food to families. Maybe you go to food stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market. Or maybe you decide on take-out from Fairfield area hot spots like Health in a Hurry, Catch a Healthy Habit, and Green Gourmet To Go. Fairfield County’s latest farm-to-table restaurant comes in the form of a mobile brick oven caterer and Cheff Jeff had it stationed outside to serve pizza made with fresh, local toppings to the more than 600 guests that attended the event.

But there are some people who are a little apprehensive about buying shares in CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). Frequently, farms provide an abundance of produce at some point during the season that the average consumer can’t use up in a week. To that, Paik said there are easy ways to avoid that problem. Blanching the excess and freezing it makes it easier for you to use the vegetables any time you choose. And if that doesn’t work for you, try Veggie Trader. They link people with excess produce to those who are looking for it. And if you can’t make it to a farmers’ market and don’t belong to a CSA, use CT Farm Fresh Express to get farm-fresh food to your table in one quick delivery. Of matching a farmer’s produce with the consumer, Paik said, “That’s a match made in heaven.”

While real estate is location, location, location, food has a similar concept: local, local, local. “CSAs are selling out,” said Paik. “We’ve stopped losing farmland. Smart people are running farms with a good business plan.” She said that farms are the hub, providing the raw material for the consumer, government, institutions like New Milford Hospital and their Plow to Plate initiative, retail chains, chefs, and school lunches. “It’s a jigsaw puzzle,” she said “and we are all finding ways to work together to be part of the solution.”

Paik feels we’ve reached our tipping point with the organic food movement. “We’re not waiting for our government to fix the food system. We’re doing it for them.”

A celebration of local farms, stores, restaurants, local/sustainable food advocates, businesses and educators for National Nutrition Month.

Type:     Free expo with guest speakers and workshops
Date:     Saturday, March 27, 2010
Time:     10:00am - 4:00pm
Location: Fairfield Warde High School, 755 Melville Avenue, Fairfield, CT

Don’t miss this amazing, free event sponsored by Fairfield PTA Council’s Fuel for Learning Partnership Committee. Come with your family and enjoy the cooking demos, panel discussions, guest speakers, exhibitors and free tastings of fresh, local food. Lunch may be purchased from the portable, wood-fired brick oven caterer featuring locally grown foods.

Participants include:

Samantha Heller, MS, RD, CDN, author of Get Smart: Samantha Heller’s Nutrition Prescription for Boosting Brain Power and Optimizing Total Body Health.

Amie Hall, CHHC, AADP, From Your Inside Out, is host to many delicious farm lunches and part of the edible schoolyard garden team.

Health in a Hurry, an award-winning restaurant offering inspired organic, vegetarian food to go.

Catch a Healthy Habit, an organic, raw food cafe and host to many live, education events.

Fairfield Green Food Guide, your guide to local and sustainable food.

Red Bee Artisanal Honey, a Weston apiary offering honey, a full line of honey products, honey tastings and book events.

Wave Hill Breads, Wilton, handcrafted, artisan breads available at specialty stores and farmers’ markets including the indoor winter farmers’ market at the FTC.

Fairfield Bread Company, Fairfield, home of  “The Flaxette”

Chef Jeff Borofsky and his portable, wood-fired brick oven catering company featuring locally-grown food. Come hungry because Chef Jeff is catering the event.

Sport Hill Farm, an organic farm in Easton run by Patti Popp and also the site of The Unquowa School’s Summer Farm Camp. Her CSA is sold out, but you can buy just picked produce at her farm stand once the season begins.

Stone Gardens Farm, an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) farm in Shelton offering CSA shares for pick up at the farm or at Westport GVI’s Wakeman Farm in Westport

Green Gourmet to Go, a brand new, organic, vegetarian restaurant located in Black Rock.

The Farmer’s Cow, Lebanon, provider of milk, eggs, cream, cider and lemonade. Ask them about their ice cream which is coming out soon.

SPEAKER SCHEDULE

10:00 - 10:15am    Introductory remarks

10:15 - 11:15am    Growing your own Produce: Organic Backyard Gardening with Nick Mancini

11:30am - 12:30pm
Get Smart: Samantha Heller’s Nutrition Prescription for Boosting Brain Power, Samantha Heller, MS RD CDN, Registered Dietitian, Clinical Nutritionist, Exercise Physiologist

1:00 - 2:00pm
Get it Local: Finding all Your Cooking Needs in and around Fairfield County with Analiese Paik, Founder and Editor of the Fairfield Green Food Guide

2:15 - 3:15pm Panel Discussion

From Classrooms to Cafeterias: Why Public Schools are Important in the Fight Against Obesity and the Fight for Sustainable Food Systems

Marlene Schwartz, PhD, Deputy Director, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity

Bruce Gluck, Food Services Director, New Canaan Public Schools
Michelle Flashman, Curriculum Leader and Instructor , Family and Consumer Science Department, Fairfield Public Schools

Please feel free to stop in at any time to attend the following family friendly activities! For everyone - of all ages and all stages of life! All talks, demos, and displays are designed to help build confidence in your kitchen and comfort at your table.

Location:
Barlow’s Restaurant (in the school)
10:30am Healthy Eating Choices for the Whole Family, JoAnn Koebbe

11:30am Healthy Eating Choices for the Whole Family, JoAnn Koebbe

12:30pm Cooking in the Classroom: the Fairfield Middle School Curriculum, Michelle Flashman

1:30pm Cooking in the Classroom: the Fairfield Middle School Curriculum, Michelle Flashman

3:00pm Healthy Eating Choices for the Whole Family, JoAnn Koebbe

Instructors & Classes
JoAnn Koebbe, Certified LEAN Coach & Health Counselor
Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitude, Nutrition are the key components to this interactive, FUN, lesson in making healthy eating choices. For everyone, children, parents, grandparents.

10:30 am, 11:30 am, 3:00 pm, 3 sessions, 30 minutes each

Michelle Flashman, Family & Consumer Sciences Curriculum Department Leader, Fairfield Public Schools
Discover what Fairfield middle school students are learning about food in the cooking classroom!

12:30 pm, 1:30 pm, 2 sessions, 30 minutes each

Location:
Family & Consumer Sciences Classroom

SPEAKERS & DEMOS
10:00 - 10:45am Whole Foods, Whole You — Amie Hall

10:45 - 11:00am Gluten Free and Flour Power — Amie Hall

11:00 - 11:30am Small Batch Baking and Buying local breads — Michael Mordecai

11:30 - 11:45am Whole Foods, Whole You — Amie Hall

11:45am - 12:45pm Food Scientists! — Valerie Wilke

1:00 - 2:15pm An Introduction to Health Supportive Cuisine - Sue Cadwell

2:15 - 3:15pm Lunch Box Fun and Co-op Bulk Buying - Valerie Wilke

3:15 - 4:00pm    Re-thinking the School Lunch Menu - Bruce Gluck and Amie Hall

Instructors & Classes
Amie Guyette Hall, Health Counselor and Cooking Coach, From Your Inside Out

Whole Foods, Whole You! We all know we should eat better food. This workshop helps us understand WHY. Kick off the day’s events with this helpful way of understanding the food mood and chronic condition connection that we are all trying to conquer. Insightful, eye opening.

10:00 am - 10:45 am, 11:30 - 11:45am

Gluten Free & Flour Power. A supportive introduction to alternative flour and pantry products.
10:45 am - 11:00 am

Michael Mordecai, Fairfield Bread Company, Bread Baker
Learn about small batch baking and buying local. Bread is the staff of life, and Michael shares
11:00 am - 11:30 am

Valerie Wilke, Chef, Blood Root Restaurant
Food Scientists!
Become the food scientist that you and your children want to be! Find encouragement and discover fun, fabulous ideas of how to experiment around the rainbow!
11:45 am - 12:45 pm

Lunch Box and Co-op Bulk Buying
2:15 - 3:15pm

Sue Cadwell, Owner, Health in a Hurry
An Intro to Health Supportive Cuisine. Easy recipes & food samples. Grains, Greens and Soy.
1:00 pm - 2:15 pm

Bruce Gluck, chef and Food Services Director in the New Canaan Public Schools
Rethinking the School Lunch Menu
3:15 pm - 4 pm

SELF GUIDED KITCHEN TOUR
Visit 5 interactive family friendly stations that will expand your food knowledge and build comfort in your kitchen.
Topics include Glorious Greens, Great Grains, The Mighty Bean, Flour Power, and Power Tools!
10:00 am - 4:00 pm

RSVP for this event on my Facebook page

Charlie is a fourth grader at King’s Highway Elementary School in Westport who has a deep passion for the farming life. It’s immediately obvious that Charlie would rather be farming than anything else, so when his teacher offered him the opportunity to do an independent study project, he jumped at the chance to share his knowledge and passion with his classmates.

Working with his teacher, Mrs. Malizia, he spent the last six weeks preparing a multimedia presentation for his class about local farms and their importance to our community. Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the class presentation. Charlie very confidently stood in front of his class and gave them an eloquent primer on local farms. “Do you know where your food comes from?” he asked the children sitting on the floor around him. He then presented the basic facts about what a farm is, how varied they are in size and nature, defined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and talked about the history of farming in the area. Corn and apples figure prominently in the area’s agricultural past (and present), but I really enjoyed learning that onions were grown in Westport during the Civil War to combat scurvy in the army ranks and “young boys our age would miss their spring and early fall school terms to harvest the onions.”

Charlie has a soft spot for Patti Popp, owner of Sport Hill Farm in Easton and host to almost 200 children in a summer farm camp run through The Unquowa School. During his “Meet the Farmer” segment, Charlie described Patti as “a hard working organic farmer who sometimes works from 7 am to 9 pm in the busy season on her four-and-a-half acre farm.” Highlighting the special relationship Patti has with her CSA families, Charlie pointed out that “once a week people come to pick up their shares that she picks that morning. Sometimes crops don’t do well, like broccoli this year, but there was arugula, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, bok choy, peppers, garlic and Swiss chard.”

“Farms are important to our way of life and we don’t want to lose them. If we can eat what is in season, it will save a lot of energy and fuel. One way to eat locally is to visit the farmers’ markets” recommended Charlie. “More and more kids are eating closer to home” from local farms and community, school and backyards gardens. “If we had a school garden like Staples and Greens Farms Academy, we could use it for science and maybe use the food in our cafeteria” Charlie suggested. One classmate added “cafeteria food isn’t healthy; I don’t like it” and received a roar of consent from the other children.

“It is important for kids to visit farms because you could like farms and not even know it” pointed out Charlie.  His best recommendation for   learning about farms and farming is to attend a farm camp. And he should know, he’s been attending them for years. “When I was 8, I went to Shelburne Farms in Vermont to their summer farm camp. It was a thousand acre farm, one of the largest farms I’ve been to. We helped collect eggs, feed pigs, help garden and visit the dairy.” At The Unquowa School’s Summer Farm Camp kids plant, harvest and really get their hands dirty at Patti’s Sport Hill Farm in Easton. They also get to eat what they’ve harvested after cooking it back at the school with Chef Peter Gorman. Charlie’s been attending the camp for two years now and said “It’s fun to get in the dirt and help.”

After the talk, it was all hands as the children peppered him with questions. “What is your favorite farm animal?” to which he responded “chickens, because they give you eggs every day.” “What do you like to do most on the farm?” elicited  “I like planting, harvesting and working with the animals. Harvesting cauliflower was really hard because we had to twist and turn them to get the heads out of the ground.” “Will you grow up to be a farmer?” really required no response but it was wonderful to hear him say that yes, he would, and he’d be just like Patti raising vegetables and taking care of animals.

Mrs. Malizia manned the laptop to run a slide show on the classroom SmartBoard of  Charlie visiting his favorite farms . When he got to the photo of broccoli and cauliflower, one child responded “Nice!” and the photo of hot peppers elicited a “Oh those are good!” from another. It’s obvious that these children know what real food is and like it! One little girl said her mother is an organic gardener and they even have chickens.

The last portion of Q&A was directed at Charlie’s special guest, organic farmer Patti Popp. “Do you really have a farm?” one girl asked almost incredulously. “Yes I do but we had to clear a lot of land to plant the farm” responded Patti. “When did you start?” another wanted to know. “It took many years to clear the land so we are now in our fourth year of farming” explained Patti. In response to  “What is your favorite vegetable to grow?” Patti said with great certainty “tomatoes and spaghetti squash - both to grow and eat!” Chickens are her favorite farm animal and she raises Rhode Island Red hens to provide her customers with farm fresh eggs.

Patti talked about the  summer farm campers’ experiences, ranging from  learning that farm chores need to be done “even when it’s hot, rainy and sticky”, to playing zucchini baseball, to cooking and eating the foods they’ve picked. “Fresh picked food tastes different; don’t say you don’t like something until you’ve tasted it” she suggested. Mrs. Malizia summed up pretty much everyone’s thoughts when she said “I want my son to go to your camp as soon as he’s not one!”

After the presentation Mrs. Malizia pulled out the latest issue of Time for Kids magazine entitled “From Farm to You: A Fresh Look at Lunch” and shared that she had used it in class and felt it enabled the kids to better relate to Charlie’s message. It’s not often that a student takes her up on an offer to do an independent project, but it seemed she genuinely enjoyed meeting once a week with Charlie to help him manage the project, sometimes working over lunch with him. He told me that with help from his parents, he researched the history of Westport farms at the library and obtained information about the Westport Community Garden on Hyde Lane from Westport Now, a new resource for him. Welcome to new media Farmer Boy.

Slow Food USA organized a wonderful campaign called Time for Lunch that calls for a national day of action to get real food in schools. That day is Labor Day, September 7, and the closest organized event I know of is in New Haven on the New Haven Green. It’s being organized by Yale students and is open to everyone starting at the very end of the New Haven Road Race.

If you can’t attend, please visit Slow Food USA’s web site and sign the petition to ask Congress for meaningful changes to the National School Lunch Program.

Here is Slow Food USA’s platform:

“This fall, the Child Nutrition Act, which is the bill that governs the National School Lunch Program, is up for reauthorization in Congress. By passing a Child Nutrition Act that works for children, our nation can take the first step towards a future where no child is denied his or her right to be healthy and where every child enjoys real food.
That’s why it’s time for Congress and the Obama Administration to:

1. Invest in children’s health.
   Give schools just one dollar more per day for each child’s lunch. Under the National School Lunch Program, the USDA reimburses schools for every meal served: $2.57 for a free lunch, $2.17 for a reduced-price lunch and 24 cents for a paid lunch. Since these reimbursements must also pay for labor, equipment and overhead costs, schools are left with only $1.00 to spend on food. How can schools be expected to feed our children and protect their health with only a dollar a day? It’s time to build a strong foundation for our children’s health by raising the reimbursement rate to $3.57.
2. Protect against food that puts children at risk.
   Establish strong standards for all food sold at school, including food from vending machines and school fast food. At most schools, children can buy junk food in vending machines, at on-campus stores and in the cafeteria as “a la carte” items. These overly processed, high-calorie “fast” foods sneak under the radar of federal nutrition standards. They undermine the National School Lunch Program’s investment in children’s health and allow food companies to profit from selling obesity. It’s time to take the first step towards making real food the standard by approving Rep. Woolsey’s and Sen. Harkin’s Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act of 2009.
3. Teach children healthy habits that will last through life.
   Fund grants for innovative Farm to School programs and school gardens. This spring, 30 fifth-graders joined Michelle Obama in planting a vegetable garden on the White House lawn. “What I found with my kids [is that] if they were involved in planting and picking it, they were much more curious to give it a try,” Mrs. Obama says. Every child deserves the opportunity to learn healthy eating habits at school. In 2004, a section was added to the Child Nutrition Act to provide schools with grants to cover one-time grants that enable them to purchase local foods and to teach lessons on healthy eating in kitchen and garden classrooms – but Congress never appropriated funds for it. This year, it’s time for Congress to guarantee $50 million of mandatory funding for Farm to School programs.

We also ask that Congress and the Obama Administration:

1. Give schools the incentive to buy local.
   Establish financial incentives that encourage schools to buy food from local farms for all child nutrition programs. Buying fruits and vegetables from local farms is an economic engine for creating jobs in our communities, rebuilding rural economies, and supporting family farmers. By shortening the distance food travels – from farm to table – it also saves oil and ensures school foods are as fresh and healthy as possible.
2. Create green jobs with a School Lunch Corps.
   Train underemployed Americans to be the teachers, farmers, cooks, and administrators our school cafeterias need. We can’t serve real food in schools without investing in school kitchens and the people who prepare and serve lunch. This spring, President Obama signed the Serve America Act, which expanded Americorps and reinforced his call for Americans to serve their country. Right now, our nation has an opportunity to train young and unemployed Americans to be the teachers, farmers, cooks and administrators we need to ensure the National School Lunch Program is protecting children’s health. President Obama has called for an end to childhood hunger by 2015; let’s answer that call by putting Americans to work building and working in school kitchens nationwide.”

by Eileen Weber

There is a food revolution underway and it includes what your kids eat at school. Lunchtime in the cafeteria has been a hot topic in recent years regarding our children’s health. Obesity and juvenile diabetes rates are skyrocketing. Our children may not outlive us, but instead die young. And, the chicken nuggets and mystery meat on the lunch line may be the biggest reason for this.

Chef Ann Cooper, the Director of Nutritional Services for Boulder Valley School District in Colorado is  a strict, and formerly of Berkeley, Calif., has recently teamed up with Whole Foods Market for a “School Lunch Revolution.”

To Cooper, know as the “Renegade Lunch Lady”, the most important challenge is to change the School Lunch Program. She has been an innovator in changing what cafeterias serve-from high processed foods to organic and natural foods. While she admits changing the school system will take funding, she sees it as a pay now or pay later Catch-22. Either we put the necessary funding into school nutrition so our kids are healthy, or we pay for it later with disease, untimely death and that ultimately puts the burden on the healthcare system.

“The government has spent $147 billion on healthcare,” she said. “So the government is already picking up the tab even in this economy for our bad health. The school lunch is not a dumping ground but a health initiative and should be seen as preventive medicine.”

Cooper strongly supports the idea that if kids learn how to eat in a healthy way in school, they will carry that home. With her consulting firm Lunch Lessons, LLC, and her non-profit organization F3: Food Family Farming Foundation, working in conjunction with Whole Foods Market seemed like a no brainer. Her F3 Foundation has also started a web portal for schools to access fresh recipes and tips on how to make a school lunch more nutritious at TheLunchBox.org.

One lunch recipe is for a bean burrito. It calls for eight ingredients which include brown rice and salsa with the option to make it from scratch. Even an old stand-by like grilled cheese calls for whole wheat bread. Simple ingredients, simple recipes.

Part of Cooper’s drive to change the school lunch is making school food, cool food. But how do we do that?

“In the same way we made it uncool,” she said of the heavy marketing and advertising on American television. “We’ve had successful initiatives to get us to stop smoking or wear seat belts. We need to put that kind of effort into eating whole, healthy foods.”

Cooper’s philosophy is in line with another health food maven, Michael Pollan, renowned author of such titles as The Omnivore’s Dilemma: An Eater’s Manifesto. Pollan has been quoted in numerous publications as well as his own that we need to drastically rethink our food system. And when it comes to school lunches, Pollan is very assertive in his opinion.

“School lunches have nothing to do with nutrition,” he said in a May 14^th interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! “We feed our kids cheap ground beef, cheese and corn products. They eat chicken nuggets and Tater Tots. We’re teaching our kids how to be fast food consumers. It’s not about health and it needs to be about health.”

But with all this talk about the “catastrophe of the American diet”, as Pollan puts it, school lunches are starting to change ever so slowly. According to a New York Times article dated August 10^th, the price of the school lunch has gone up to accommodate the cost of fresh foods. There are now vegetarian dishes as well as those offering locally grown produce. While the majority of food choices available are still highly processed, it’s still a step in the right direction.

But when it comes to packing your own lunch from home, there may be another way to get your kids to eat healthy food.

“Have your kids be part of the process,” says nutritionist Patricia Restrepo of Key Biscayne in an August 2^nd article in the Miami Herald. “Making fun things with them helps. Kids who have never touched a vegetable will suddenly eat them.”

If, as Chef Ann Cooper says school food can be cool food, it’s even better if their lunch box is fun too. There are plenty of alternatives to the hum-drum lunch box. Laptop Lunches makes everyday a trip to a Japanese restaurant. Designed like a bento box, little compartments leave room for a variety of different foods. In much the same way, the Dutch manufactured Oots lunch boxes are BPA, lead, and

phthalate-free containers that all snap together, including a thermos that can be stacked on top.

But the food we put in that lunch box needs to be healthy as well. “Unfortunately, a lot of parents get what they think is healthy when it’s really not,” said Sue Caldwell, owner and chef at award-winning Health In A Hurry. She says she often hears moms complain that they wish they could get their families to eat the organic, natural foods like the dishes she prepares in the store.

Caldwell said that while her clientele is extremely diverse, she does see parents coming in for the cookies and the wraps to put in lunches. “As the School Lunch Program ekes along,” she said of what strides have been made to change the system, “I think the prepared food market is going at the same snail’s pace.”

When it comes to health and nutrition, the tides seem to be turning in the school system. But it took obesity and disease to get us to sit up and take notice. We have the choice between healthy and unhealthy food on a daily basis. So the next time you shop, what choice will you make?